Tourism Australia invites LinkedIn & Facebook users to take a break down under

Tourism Australia has partnered with leading online travel portal, MakeMyTrip.com, to launch an online contest ‘Who Deserves a Break in Oz’, involving LinkedIn and Facebook. Buoyed by the interest generated by its first version in 2013, the contest has brought back the opportunity for users to reward members in their network by nominating them for a week-long holiday in Australia. Two participants who secure the maximum number of nominations stand a chance to win the grand prize. In addition, all participants who nominate a minimum of three mates also win guaranteed discount voucher worth Rs 10,000 from MakeMyTrip.

The contest can be accessed till 30 June 2014 via enticing banner and text displays on LinkedIn, Facebook and MakeMyTrip or by directly logging on to www.whodeservesabreakinoz.com. Participants will be required to nominate contacts from their network and select a desired uniquely Aussie experience for each of them. The exclusive ‘Best of Australia’ experiences on offer for participants to choose for their nominees include enjoying a private island picnic at the Great Barrier Reef, cruising along the scenic Great Ocean Road on a self-drive journey, taking a climb of their life by participating in the Sydney Bridge Climb or treating their taste buds to a food and drink indulgence at Kangaroo Island.

Commenting on the activity, Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager – India and Gulf, Tourism Australia said, “The influence of social media networks within Tourism Australia’s target segment of affluent, mid-life travelers is significant and we are keen to use this medium to actively engage with potential travelers. The competition has an appealing concept and is a great way for us to reach out and influence our target segment by showcasing Best of Australia experiences while also incentivizing their participation. The first edition of the campaign delivered encouraging results and we look forward to another successful campaign.”

Tourism Australia has a strong digital media strategy to inspire consumers to holiday in Australia. It has on Facebook more than 5.8 million fans globally, of which over 460,000 fans are from India. Digital media has been an integral part of the ‘There’s Nothing like Australia’ campaign in India with an approach of delivering innovative, rich and appealing content to customers through new media and social media platforms.

Mohit Gupta, Chief Business Officer – Holidays, MakeMyTrip.com added, “We are thrilled to partner with Tourism Australia to bring this exclusive opportunity to our customers and their social networks. We are in the business of creating memorable experiences through travel and nothing symbolizes a rejuvenating vacation like a specially curated itinerary in Australia. We are confident that netizens will participate heartily in this unique and fun contest.”

The API (Application Programming Interface) www.whodeservesabreakinoz.com has been constructed to be a seamless journey for participants and has been developed by SNSEPro, while BBDO India have designed the creative elements, and the media execution has been carried out by OMD India.

Australia has been witnessing a consistent increase in visitor arrivals from India. There were 17,000 visitors from India during April 2014, bringing the total for the four months to April to 60,800, an increase of 13.6 per cent relative to the same period previous year. The Tourism Forecasting Committee (Forecast 2013 Issue 2), estimates arrivals from India to Australia to be 179,000 for the year 2013-14. Arrivals from India are expected to perform well, with an average annual financial year growth rate of 7.2 per cent through to the financial year 2020-21.